"Try to sit still, dear."
Even in the midst of war, there were parties. And when there were parties, her hair needed to be scorched.
"You wouldn't sit still if your hair was being set on fire." Night Beauty sulked as her mother curled her hair. Despite her name, her mousy locks couldn't hold a curl, so the end result was always slightly windswept waves instead of curls.
Her mother sighed. "It's not that hot. I'm almost done, just give me a minute."
Night heaved a sigh. She knew her role was important, and she was much more adept in the ballroom than on the battlefield like Lux, but why did she have to get her hair curled?
I'll be with you soon, Lux. , she thought. We just need to wait for this stupid party to be over, and we can be together. I promise.
"Try not to die, dear."
"Gee, thanks Auntie," Lux sulked, as said aunt adjusted the thin, concealable barding destined to be covered by her dress. She set her own amber levitation aura to work, brushing away the foreign blue glow at her throat. "I'll do my level-best not to get set on fire."
Her aunt sighed, "I do wish you'd take this a bit more seriously. Those Ravens most certainly will be."
Lux felt a scowl threatening to tug at her lips. She forced her expression to be neutral, at least for all of second or two before her mouth ran away from her. "Of course they will. Everyone is always serious about it. They insulted us in front of Her Highness, so naturally, ponies have to suffer."
"It's not that simple, and you know it," her aunt chided. "Now, does it fit right? It had better, if you want to be sure you make it back to see that stallion friend of yours that you're so keen to keep secret from us."
"There's no secret stallion." Lux knew how hollow it sounded, as technically true as it was. She couldn't keep from glancing at the mirror in front of her. She raised a hoof to brush self-consciously at her orange-gold mane. "Yeah, it fits fine. So, how long do you think this will take...?"
I'll be with you soon, Night. , she thought. Once all this senseless fighting is over, we can be together. I promise.
Night moved through the crowd like a cat, trying to get near the window. In just a few minutes, she would be able to see Lux and the other members of the Shine family's army. Lux had told her about the attack on the nearby small businesses the Ravens owned in the city, and knowing that she could glimpse her Lux for a brief moment made her feel good.
"Miss Night Beauty?"
She whirled around to see a Shine noble behind her. Bright Shine, if she remembered correctly. A minor scion of the main line of the family. "Oh! Hello, Mr. Bright Shine, how good it is to see you." He had the same orange-gold mane Lux did. Lux....
"What were you doing near the window?" He asked with a funny little smile. She hated that smile.
"Just getting a bit of air." She waved a hoof. "There have been reports of thieves, assasination attempts, other nasty things around. Terrible." Cue slightly predatory look, let him know that he couldn't use her tactics.
"Yes, terrible indeed." His eyes narrowed.
"I'm a bit thirsty, can I get you a drink as well?" She crafted a perfect, charming smile. He'd see through it, of course, but the goal wasn't to ingratiate herself, as it might seem. Shine would drink his drink, while thinking he was so much smarter. And all the while he'd be dulling his edge.
Lux moved through the darkness like a cat, each hoofstep considered and poised, each falling right where the previous left, to minimize and distort any tracks. It was an unnatural way to walk, ponies weren't meant to move in a predatory prowl, but long, harsh training could accomplish a great deal.
She kept her head low, trying not to look toward the Rosethorn Hall nearby, where she knew her Beauty was applying those same charms that had ensnared her so completely. For all she hated this, Aunt Glimmershine was right. If she wasn't serious about this, she would be dead. There was no time for daydreaming, as deliciously tempting as it was.
She nearly tripped over a discarded bottle when her mind found itself occupied with images of that dusky charcoal form that Luna saw fit to lovingly torment her with each night.
"Ponyfeathers," Lux swore, under her breath. A smack of levitation magic caught her just behind the ear, nearly making her yelp. She glared into the darkness that contained her partners in crime, hoping that she was giving that killing look to the right patch of shadow.
Scowling to herself, the unicorn drifted closer to the concealment of the buildings near her, as her companions did. Between the dark clothing and the ash smeared into her coat, to hide that noble, Canterlot white that ran through even her out-of-the-way branch of the Shine family, she wagered she was pretty hard to see.
That would probably be for the best, since Night would have warned her family, if just to save lives. There was going to be a trap waiting.
She glanced out the large window, looking down at the alleyways where Lux would be sneaking. The attack would be starting soon. She practiced keeping her face surprised, as she hadn't warned her family. She couldn't do that to Lux. If either of her parents saw her anything but surprised and angry, she'd have hell to pay.
Step by step, Lux was getting more and more nervous. Everything was going according to plan. Which wasn't Lux's plan. There'd been nary a whisper of resistance when the sleep spell settled over the earth pony guard outside the compound—
What were they thinking hiring an earth pony, when spells might be flying?
—and certainly not when one of her cousins had cast the spell to let them ghost through a section of the wall. They'd actually left wine barrels and bolts of silk out in the open, protected by no more than a cloth awning to keep out rain.
If they were being allowed this close, taking these risks, the trap would be devastating. All they'd have to do would be dispell the wall-passing magic and brace the gates, and they'd be doomed. None of their party knew how to teleport.
Lux's legs quivered under her, and hear ears folded tightly back against the armor held snugly to her head. Her heart was threatening to beat its way outof her chest. The urge to run was almost overwhelming.
She hadn't expected to die here. But at least some good would come of it. For her family, or even her Beauty's. She hoped that would be a comfort for that beautifully emotional mare.
Magical glows began to drift through the yard, the sight seeming washed out to Lux's blurring, watery vision. Her compatriots were taking advantage of the apparent short-sightenedness of the trading family they were here to ruin, scattering the flammable materials around. Lux didn't even know the family's name, it was better that way. All she knew was that they were vassals to the Ravens. That was supposed to be enough.
She blinked away at her tears and lit her horn grimly, trying to keep it from flickering from her own nerves as she unrolled one of the bolts of cloth, all the way to a spot below an open window. The curtains inside would catch, when the time came.
Her cousins and more distant family lined up around the front of the compound's main house, all impassively hooded, masked faces.
A dazzling flash burned across Lux's vision.
Night continued to look out the window. Any second now....
A small plume of orange appeared on the roof of the Prose's home. More began to appear as the house began to look less like a house and more like a firework show gone wrong. More of the Ravens flocked to the window, surprised glares evident on their faces. Night fought to keep her face angry.
She could see the miniature outlines of ponies running away from the house, so at least the Prose family were alright. She could also see the outlines of about ten or fifteen other ponies running in the opposite direction, toward the Shine manor. Lux's team.
As the blaze neared its xenith, a symbol took shape in the inferno, a blazing phoenix in otherworldly blue flame. The Shine family crest. It was gone almost as soon as it had formed.
"Those insolent Shines!" She heard her father shout. As always, his deep, rumbling voice carried to every corner of the room. "They think they can burn one of our vassals' homes and put up their crest like this is all some game!? Schoolyard teasing?! We'll show them! We'll show them all!"
The other Ravens in the room cheered, along with Night, who's cheer was more out of excitement than agreement. Finally, she could go see Lux. Finally, the agonizing wait was over. Mumbling excuses, she hurried out of the hall, then took flight, low to the ground, to see her Lux.
Her Beauty was there, right where they'd planned to meet, just a block from The Banner Mare, a posh, overly expensive club catering to their class and age.
Lux's previous stealth was long abandoned. Worse, she was drawing glances from everypony she passed. It might have been the frown promising impalement to anypony stupid enough to step in her way. Maybe it was the quick, nearly stomping steps she was taking. Perhaps it was how she hadn't bothered to get dressed after washing all that horrid charcoal out of her coat. She was as nude as a common country mare, without so much as a saddle on. She hadn't had the patience.
Even that dark mood didn't keep her gait from faltering, and her heart from skipping a beat at the sight of her Beauty. Her fillyfriend. Her special somepony.
The warm feeling in her chest, and the sweetness her own mental voice supplied with that stupid phrase just made her all the more mad.
"What in Celestia's name were you thinking?!" she found herself shouting, when she was a few paces away.
"If I told my parents about the attack they'll want to ask how I found this out and then I'd have to tell them about you and then I'd never get to see you ever again!" Night gushed without taking a breath. She reached out to pull Lux into an embrace. "I don't want to never see you again."
Lux stiffened when that foreleg went around her neck. It was impossible to properly glare with the darker mare attached to her. It took long seconds to translate that flood of excuses into proper Equestrian anyway. Those moments were calming, at least. Lux lowered her voice to a hiss. "Make something up. Tell them you seduced a Shine or something." Sisters knew that was true enough anyway. "If they'd known we were coming, there would have been an open brawl. Celestia wouldn't have been able to ignore it."
The pale mare squirmed from Night's embrace, pushing her back with a hoof on her chest. Her voice dropped further, but became no less serious for it. "Ponies probably died tonight, Beauty. They certainly will soon."
"Nopony died, Lux. I saw the Prose family get out safely. Everypony involved is alright. You're alright. I don't care if every member of my family died as long as this" -she pecked Lux on the cheek-"is kept as under wraps as possible. I'm a terrible liar, you know that. Even if that's not technically a lie, one look from my father would make me spill everything."
"You could sell sand to a camel," Lux protested. She flailed a hoof toward Beauty's hindquarters. "Do that tail-flick thing while you're lying. Nobody can think properly when they see that, nevermind catch a lie."
"It's all over now anyway. I'll keep that in mind, but now it's all over, Lux. And everypony's fine. It's okay."
Lux tried to be angry. She really, really did. But somewhere along the way she found herself with her muzzle buried in Beauty's neck. "Next time I'll fill you in on my devious plans beforehand," she said, through a faceful of sweetly perfumed darkness. She was sure it sounded properly pathetic.
Night laughed. "I love you too, Lux. I love you, too."
Canterlot wasn’t unused to seeing herds—or wolf packs—of young, rich mares on the prowl at night for handsome bachelors. It was a fine enough cover for the pair. There would be less questions if they looked like friends.
The Banner Mare was trendy enough to provide a certain anonymity on the dance floor. The lights were dark. The music was loud, if not so frenetic as it would be in a lower-class club. The drinks were flowing freely.
Since there were never enough stallions to go around, seeing friends passing the time together, or showing off, was normal enough.
The problem, at least for Lux, was keeping things looking so boringly platonic. She had a foreleg around an eager and loving dark goddess. But she couldn’t press too close to the warmth of her. She was nearly cheek-to-cheek with her, but she didn’t dare to turn her head, just fractionally, to kiss or nuzzle like every instinct was screaming at her to do. Ages of separation from Night was taking its toll. All the build-up, and days of waiting. All the letters exchanged, and teasing promises made. And she still couldn’t touch. Not really.
At least she could get an eyeful. There were no better dancers than pegasi. The way they could beat their wings to move on two hooves, or none at all. Their wild energy and instinct for movement couldn’t be matched. The way Beauty could move, fly and spin on the dance floor was completely intoxicating.
The way she’d been held against the larger pegasus during an earlier dance, being held up by Beauty’s forehooves across her chest, was a memory she would hold dear in her heart forever, she figured. She’d been able to feel every lithe movement against her back, and every breath. Her nose had been filled with the perfume from her fillyfriend’s mane, kicked up by the breeze of those flittering wings. And the way Beauty had snuck those little kisses along the base of her ear...
The bright-coated mare almost laughed at her own frustrated self-pity. There was nothing like danger and fear to get the blood burning. And a few hours of dancing with a beautiful mare to keep that steady smoulder going, to the point where Lux was sure it would drive her insane.
“Patience now.” Night murmured into her ear, when the music wound down to silence. Even her self-derision didn’t do a thing to stop a shiver from travelling down her spine, at the heat of her breath. “There’s a social thing coming up in a few days. Don’t know who’s manor it’s at, but you’re bound to be going this time. We can touch and feel all we want then.”
“You’re an evil, evil little thing,” Lux complained. There wasn’t any real scorn in it. She even let her muzzle brush almost imperceptibly against her fillyfriend’s cheek. “You always say that.”
“‘Cause it’s true. My mother can’t resist the information she can gather at those parties. Right when I say that, something will happen and we can’t sneak away.” She laughed.
“Just like always,” Lux agreed, with a melodramatically martyred sigh.
“We should probably go, if we don’t get back before two, we’re going to go through the third degree, and you don’t have the tail flick on your side,” she said teasingly.
A grin threatened to creep onto Lux’s lips. “Of course not. I like it much better on your side. Well, I mean, technically your r—”
Her words were cut short by a playfully scolding shove, and a barely-tolerant glare.
“No wonder they don’t let you go to the parties!” Night scolded, barely disguising her slight amusement. “You can’t keep that adorably scruffy tail down.”
Lux oh-so-maturely stuck out her tongue in response. Then turned to start off the dance floor, flicking that tailtip against her partner’s nose. “Says the trained seductress to the proper, chaste virgin.”
“That’s different.” Night protested, heading after her. “Half the time I don’t even need to get under their tail. Of course, that would imply I do it regularly, which I don’t. Seriously.” A blush was beginning to form.
“So defensive.” Lux called back, in a singsong voice. It helped to cover that gnawing curiosity she never voiced.
“In all honesty, sex feels kinda good. You happy?”
It was Lux’s turn to have her ears redden, as several ponies at the edge of the dance floor looked over. She folded them back to hide it. She slowed to let Night catch up, and walk at her side. The silence stretched, however, as the pair left the club.
“I think I may have fucked up.” Night’s own ears grew warm in the chill air.
Lux started, as those words broke the silence. She, after a quick look around to make sure nopony was watching, flicked her head to the side to give the mare a little nuzzle. “Sorry. I was just thinking. You mean today? By not telling your family? No, that really wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t read my mind. I was just…” She rolled her shoulders in a small shrug. “...worked up, I guess? You get sort of screwy after a night like tonight.”
“I understand. Never really thought about what you do. I’m trained in wing-blades and… other things, but not the kind of stuff you can probably do. Maybe because I don’t have a horn.”
“We never do talk about it, do we? What we do for our families.” The unicorn stopped, biting her lip thoughtfully. “Maybe we should. We’ve been together for months. Sort of. Doesn’t it feel weird that there’s this huge part of our lives—hay, most of it—that is just… off limits?”
“But it’s this part” —she prodded Lux’s chest where her heart was— “that makes the rest worthwhile.”
Lux knew she had to be wearing a really stupidly dreamy smile at that moment. She didn’t care. Well… not much. She moved forward, enough to steal a quick, surreptitious kiss from Beauty’s lips. Beauty smiled.
“We really are stretching it. I should leave.”
“I could walk you part of the way home.” Lux offered, trying to sound smooth. She was pretty sure she hadn’t kept a note of desperation from entering her voice.
“Sure.”
The two headed toward the mountainside, where the Raven estate was nestled.
Night fluttered in through a back entrance. Most of her family were pegasi, so most of the vaults and such required a feather or used cloud-locks for access. She dashed through the halls and skidded into her room, burying herself in covers as her mother walked in a moment after.
Her mother was a prideful mare, with a jade green coat and brown eyes that often blazed with whatever emotion she currently harbored inside her. Mayling Raven liked to think she was reserved, but that intensity made her easy to read.
“How are you doing, sweetheart? I saw you came upstairs early.”
Night tried her best to convincingly yawn, not hard considering the evening’s events. “Just tired, mother.”
“Well, best you go to sleep, there’s extra training for the next two days, and after that the Goldengrapes have invited everypony to show their latest ‘art’ acquisitions. We can’t let those Shines surprise us again.” Mayling swept out of the room, her black skirt flashing behind her. Night stared at the door for a few moments, then fell exhaustedly into Luna’s embrace.
“Keep it up, Night! More dexterity, more momentum, you have to move those wings!”
Night sucked in a breath as she sparred with her father, their wing-blades clashing together. Wing-blades weren’t the best for ground combat, but they served their purpose well for the pegasi that couldn’t hover swords in their magic. It was important that she knew how to use them well, along with the garrote.
She slashed near her father’s hooves, making him stumble. She pointed one wingtip at his throat, breathing heavily. They both smiled.
“Good girl, Night. Now let’s have another go!”
“Keep it up, Lux. More of a smile, lower your chin a little, you have to look more demure!”
Lux sucked in a breath, and struggled not to release it as a sigh. She was sitting across the table from her cousin, Heart Shine, while her aunt scrutinized her every move and expression. She had to practice flirting with him, of all things. It was supposed to make her more social. It just served to make her queasy.
She batted her eyelashes at Heart, her voice was sickly-sweet. “Sir Shine, I simply must know: do you feel like killing yourself as much as I do right now?”
“Lux!” her aunt snapped, stomping a perfectly polished white hoof down. Heart, at least, seemed to be trying not to laugh. “This is serious! Unless you learn the game, some Raven thug will have you twisted around his hoof. We were willing to be lenient about you ignoring the social niceties for years. But we don’t have the luxury any longer. Again.”
The young unicorn rolled her eyes slightly and took in another breath, as if to steady her nerves. She straightened up on her cushion, lowered her muzzle like a proper young lady and put on a coquettish smile. “Sir Shine, you seem like a fine and proper family colt. How do you think a family would react if I told them that I liked mares? And found flirting with colts simply vile? I hear it’s becoming very accep—”
She yelped as a telekinetic strike stung her ear.
“Lux!”
Night hovered liked a bat near the stairwell, gently tugging a rope tighter and tighter. The pony model on the other end of that line was none the wiser as the rope began to constrict the throat and cut off the airway.
Mayling clapped her hooves to the ground as she watched. “Very good! I think you’ve mastered the garrote—”
No, really?
“—so why don’t we have lunch and then go back to wing-blades? Does that sound good?”
Night forced the corners of her mouth up. “That sounds delightful, mother.”
She had been practicing her wing-blade combat and garrote work non-stop with the exception of meals and short breaks ever since her mother had made her announcement, and her muscles protested with everything they had.
She kept that false smile on as she obediently, with a sore limp, followed toward the sparring field.
“Honestly now, I’ve seen you look fresher after a ten-mile trot,” Gilded Gleam said in stern disapproval as her levitated brush attacked Lux’s mane. The young yellow-coated mare, no more than a year older than Lux herself, seemed utterly focused on her task.
Lux happened to think that single-mindedness was cute enough from her cousin now, but it was downright terrifying in more serious situations. Like her, Gleam came from a minor offshoot of the family. The sort where all the house’s protectors were recruited from. With a sigh, Lux closed her eyes, docily letting her head be tugged around by the deadly mare. “I’m exhausted!” she complained—whined, really.
“Lifting all those canapes and sipping that wine. Yes, I can see how that would take a lot out of a pony.”
If she hadn’t been increasingly relaxed by the care, Lux would have retorted, or at least glared. Instead she continued to lay on her bed in a boneless heap. Her overly heavy green gown in a messy pool around her.
“Well, I know something that might make you feel better,” Gleam continued, unsurprisingly. She was the sort of mare that was happy to fill any available silence. “I hear that we’ll be going out again soon.”
That, at least, perked Lux up, her ear swivelled in her cousin’s direction. “Another girl’s night?”
A hook jabbed against her side. “No. I don’t think Cousin Twinkleshine has gotten over you flirting with that waitress yet.” Gleam wrinkled her muzzle. “You really can’t be doing that.”
Lux waved dismissively without opening her eyes. “Twinkleshine spends half her time off in Ponyville. I’m sure she’s used to fillyfooling. I hear that they’re all that way there.”
“You aren’t from Ponyville. You can’t go acting like some hick. You’re a family unicorn. A mare of breeding.”
Lux let out a puff of air. “Mare of breeding? Yeah, I feel really classy when I’m skulking around in the dark, covered in ash, off to go burn down some poor family’s house.”
Gleam frowned. “We do what we have to do. Our family is everything to us. It’s our reason for being.” Lux felt a jab against her thigh, at her cutie mark. “You have the family’s sun mark, just like I do. And right now our family is in danger. We all continue on by the grace of Her Highness—” Gleam corrected herself, “—Their Highnesses. And the Ravens are trying to destroy us in their eyes. Better ‘some poor family’ than everyone you love.”
Not everyone I love. I can’t let it be them or Night.
